Chamber of Paladins, Geneva

Terra, Prefecture X

20 December 3134

The relaxing properties of food did nothing to improve the quality of messages Jonah received.

That Kessel put his name on that last one made Jonah all but certain he wasn’t the anonymous poster, as it contained a pretty vile sentiment that Kessel apparently was not ashamed to claim for himself. It was written in politicianese, but, decoded, it meant that, should he win the election, Sorenson would make sure the home planets of his supporters were well defended, while the homes of his opposition might as well be up for grabs. Jonah knew Stone would have had no tolerance for such thoughts.

Thanks, Otto, but I already knew that, Jonah thought sourly.

Jonah almost laughed aloud. The fact that Sinclair, barely elevated to Paladin and, until recently, under suspicion for the murder of the man he replaced, could keep a sense of humor even now was a good sign. He’d be a good Paladin.

Another new message arrived just as Jonah hit send.

Who was this? He hadn’t suspected any of his fellow Paladins capable of this sort of venom. But then, anonymity always had an ability to pull vile words out of decent souls. Attempts at replying to the message just bounced the response to his own screen.

Jonah could almost hear the chiding tone in the reply.

I wish I did, he thought. A delay of this length could mean her morning plans, whatever they had been, had run into serious trouble.

Wonderful. Tyrina Drummond, who’d praised his honor about an hour ago, now thought he was lying to her. This day was the best possible reminder of why he avoided politics.

At that moment, the doors of the Chamber of Paladins swung open and Heather GioAvanti strode in. The normally neat and well-groomed Paladin had clearly come to the chamber directly from her morning’s work. She was still wearing a MechWarrior’s shorts and singlet, dark with sweat, her helmet crooked in her right arm. She approached the front of the chamber, where Tyrina Drummond sat in the facilitator’s position.

“Please accept my apologies for the late arrival,” she said. “I was unavoidably detained on The Republic’s business.”

“There is no shame in that,” Tyrina Drummond replied. “We have taken five preliminary ballots and are in the middle of discussion on the sixth. At this point, with all Paladins present, we may move on to formal deliberations and final balloting, unless you wish to participate in preliminary balloting yourself.”

“Not particularly,” Heather said. “But by your leave, I’d like to report on my morning’s activities.”

“Please do,” Drummond said.

Heather turned to address the other Paladins. “As you might guess, the streets are a little chaotic this morning. Most of the activity is peaceful. It wasn’t, however, supposed to be that way. The Kittery Renaissance—I believe you’re all familiar with the group—had planned a series of violent riots throughout the city. If we hadn’t caught a lucky break, thanks mainly to information provided to Paladin Levin, they would have been armed to the teeth and it would have been an extremely destructive morning. As it is, casualties and property destruction have been kept to a minimum. And a man identified as Cullen Roi, who we believe to be very highly placed in the Kittery Renaissance, possibly its leader, is in custody.”

Most of the Paladins smiled at the news, a few even applauded. Drummond, stone-faced, motioned for silence.

Jonah translated the message to himself: Please do not hold the Founder’s Movement responsible for the KR’s actions.

Heather, meanwhile, had reddened a bit during the applause, but maintained her composure. “Thank you, but I’d like you to give at least this much credit to the militia who served under me. Their training and responsiveness were exemplary.

“Now, I’ll assume Paladin Levin has briefed you about his investigation.” She glanced over at Jonah, who nodded. “I don’t have much concrete to add. But let me say that this conspiracy he’s identified is a real threat. We have pretty clear evidence that one of the activities of this conspiracy was directing money to the Kittery Renaissance. We don’t know how else they may have supported this group, but it seems they didn’t just stop with money.

“This is the situation we’re in. This is what the next Exarch must face. We have a fight on our hands, and we need someone who can fight back, and who can show everyone what’s still right with The Republic. But we can’t just elect someone who will fight well; we need someone who we know will fight fair. Otherwise”—she shrugged—“there eventually won’t be much difference between them and us.”

She turned to Drummond. “Let’s finish this off,” she said, and took her seat.

Unsurprisingly, Heather’s address set off another flurry of messages. Jonah replied as quickly as he could.